ABOUT
After university, I trained as an editor, working first for The Australian Encyclopaedia before taking on the role of Managing Editor of Australians: A Historical Library, a ten-volume history written by more than 400 academics to celebrate Australia's bicentenary. In 1992, after working as a publisher for HarperCollins Australia, I moved to New York, becoming the firm's Group Vice President of New Media. The web had just been invented, and CD-ROMs and LaserDiscs were still a thing. We didn't have mobile phones, let alone smartphones or social media — only letter writing and reverse trunk calls. I was in my mid-thirties. I learned to drink whisky sours and read books in the bay window of the National Arts Club, where they filmed The Age of Innocence based on the novel of the same name by Edith Wharton. No, I did not become rude, brash and impatient, the stereotypical view of New Yorkers. Instead, I enjoyed their big hearts, learned from their curiosity and admired their ability to hustle.
II returned to Sydney in 1995 to start a family, and my career carried on across every form of media. I was a founding member of Australia's first internet portal, ninemsn, a joint venture between Microsoft and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited. I then went on to be head of Digital for the Nine Network, before becoming CEO of Southern Star Entertainment's Drama and Children's divisions. I returned to New York in the noughties after founding a social media site for readers, The Reading Room (later bookstr.com) and in 2016 I returned to Australia.
Along the way, my working life turned towards boards as a Chair and Non-executive Director. I am currently a non-executive director of Great Southern Bank and SiteMinder Ltd, and Chair of the Sax Institute, which has undertaken one of the most influential longitudinal research studies in Australia (the 45 and Up Study, and now also the 18 and Up Study) and has driven the use of research to improve the health and wellbeing of all Australians. I also sit on the board of the NSW Royal Humane Society. My former boards include the ASX-listed CAR Group, InvoCare Ltd, WPP AUNZ Ltd, Beem and Infomedia, among others.
I have also been a Member of the Expert Advisory Panel for Law and the Humanities for the Australian Research Council and a Federation Fellows judge. I was a Fellow of the Senate of the University of Sydney from 2004 to March 2011. Having been educated for free, I have always wanted to give back and get immense enjoyment in serving and supporting others, in particular The Story Factory, founded by Cath Keenan, among others.
In 2026, I was awarded an AM for my services to literature and media.
Travel has always been a big part of my life, and the writing in one way or another, has always been there. I have authored numerous publications, and in 2023 I published my first novel; a second is now in train. Today, I live in Sydney with my family.
I am one of eight children and grew up on 35 acres 100 miles south of Sydney. As a young girl, I had big dreams. I wanted to be a writer, a journalist, a radio programmer, or a music producer. I haven't fulfilled them all, but it's been a lot of fun trying. When I was ten years old, I moved to Sydney — one of the most beautiful cities in the world — with my mother and most of my brothers and sisters.
My first writing job was when I was twelve years old. Did I mention I might have been precocious — still might be. A friend, Gretel Souter, and I began writing a column for our local newspaper called Pet of the Week. I liked the people I met, hearing their stories and those of their pets. I also wrote a brief article for The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper about the Dharug people, the Indigenous people who had once lived on the land where I was born.
I am one of the lucky few who were educated at university for free. It was still a meagre existence, so my eldest sister taught me to sew all my own clothes. Once, a fellow student asked me out on a date. "If possible," he said, without a shred of kindness, "could you wear a different skirt?" I needed to sew more. To make ends meet, I had a part-time job as an usherette in a local picture theatre. Mercifully, the job came with a uniform and paid double-and-a-half time on Sundays. I graduated from the University of Sydney and later UTS.
